Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: Jesus is in the hands of his enemies. The disciples are scattered. One has betrayed him, another has denied him. Welcome to Through the Bible. I'm your host Steve Schwetz. And in this study, our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee tells us about pilot's effort to please the Jewish leaders while at the same time seeking to release Jesus. But Dr. McGee explains that pilot couldn't get off the hook. Just like us, he had to make a decision about Jesus. Well, this is a somber study and it's a pivotal point of history as well. And that's why I'm so glad that you're here with us on the Bible bus.

So while you find your seat and buckle up, here's a quick letter from a fellow passenger. This one's named Marie. God has wonderfully used through the Bible in my life. Around 2018, I was driving from my home in Kentucky to East Tennessee to visit family. I had my radio on scan looking for a station with preaching when a southern drawl came through that was different from the Appalachian drawl I was accustomed to. It drew me in, but before I could hit the stop button and moved off the station, I had a deep feeling that I needed to listen to this message and I quickly turned the dial back to what I found was Dr.

McGee teaching. After listening to his message, I quickly Googled you and the rest is, as they say, history. I have been a faithful listener ever since that faithful day. I listen to a message each morning on my way to work and another one on my way home. I also listen to Dr. McGee's Sunday sermons while cooking or cleaning at home. I have been a Christian since I was a child, but my understanding of the word of God was rudimentary. I knew the basics, of course, but I was missing the deep, rich, spiritual truths that are found in his word.

I had always wanted to know the word better and it asked for a deeper understanding. I know that on my drive home that day, it was God turning that radio dial because he had a plan. In 2025, my younger sister was saved. I used Dr. McGee's teachings to answer some of her questions about saving faith. Not long after her conversion, we were speaking on the phone when she suggested that we have a Bible study and asked if I could lead it. Now, we hold a virtual family Bible study every Monday. It's growing beyond the family and friends are beginning to join.

We have made it to the middle of Exodus to date. God has blessed me so much with the ability to do this not only in teaching the word of God, but also in my own growth in it. There are times I just break down in the middle of my study and tears at the wonderful truths and love of our father has provided us in his word. The fact that he has blessed me so that I can share it with others is overwhelming to me at times. I can't praise him enough. I pray through the Bible reaches every ear that will hear it.

Well, thanks Marie. What a great story about how God works through his word and through our actions. Let's pray more changed by his word as we study together. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the life that you give us through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Please remove the blindness from those who are listening, but don't yet know you. Bring them to salvation, Lord, even today. In the name of our Savior Jesus, we pray. Amen. Here's Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Mark 15 on Through the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Today, friends, as we come to the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, we are in an area now, the crucifixion of Christ, where very candidly, all scriptures given by inspiration of God and it's all profitable. But this that describes the death and resurrection of Christ has particular meaning for us today. And we close the last chapter with Jesus in the hands of his enemies. His own were scattered. One has betrayed him. Another has denied him. And it's the night of sin. In two different ways, sin is trying to destroy him. And he is doing something about sin for he's dying for your sin and my sin.

And I suppose that it could be said that the cross is one of the many paradoxes of the Christian faith. For that reason, it is at once the greatest tragedy of the ages and the most glorious victory of earth and heaven. Therefore, as we come to this chapter, we should not come with a feeling of defeat, our sympathy for the sufferer. We should walk, I think, softly and reverently through these scenes with a heart welling up to God in thanksgiving for providing so great salvation. And the tragic note, I think, is inescapable in these scenes with the cruel injustice and bitter suffering inflicted upon the Lord Jesus.

You will recall that Clovis, the barbarian, exclaimed when he first heard the Gospel read to him. He said, if I'd only been there with my soldiers. Well, it's not our sympathy that the son of God wants. It's our faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And he wants the faith of your heart, not the sympathy of your heart.

Now, I have said before, I repeat it again today, Mark is the Gospel of action. And this 15th chapter of Mark sets forth the supreme nature of the action. The crucifixion is the climactic point and the crowning event of this section. It is the crucifixion toward which all creation and the purposes of God were moving from out eternity. For he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now, the gospel is translated into action. Paul could say later on, I have delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

You see, the gospel is what he did. It's not what God's asking you to do. It's his action, not your action or mine today. Because you and I are in no position to do anything that would be acceptable to God. Your righteousness and my righteousness is not acceptable for salvation. God provides that righteousness in Christ. He delivered for our offenses, raised for our justification or our righteousness. Now, in this chapter, we see Jesus first carried before pilot verses one and six. Then Jesus condemned and Barabbas released verses seven through 15. Then Jesus crowned with thorns verses 16 through 23 and then Jesus crucified verses 24 to 41 and then finally 42 to 47 Jesus committed to Joseph and put in his new tomb.

Now, let's get into the chapter. I'm reading at verse one Mark 15. And straightway in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council and bound Jesus and carried away and delivered him to pilot. Now, the reason that they did that was this, that the Sanhedrin had already condemned Jesus to die, but they could not carry out the execution. Only Rome could do that. Therefore, this body had to appeal to the Roman court for the execution of the death penalty. Now, that charge which they had brought against him at the Sanhedrin, that would not stand up before pilot.

And so they met early the next morning to formulate charges that would stand up before the Roman court and to make legal the illegal action of the night before. Now, will you notice verse two and pilot ask him, art thou the king of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, thou sayest it. You see, pilot was the Roman governor in Jerusalem at this time. When I say in Jerusalem, he just happened to be in Jerusalem and he didn't just really happen to be there. He really stayed down at Caesarea. He liked that place. It was on the sea coast and it was a delightful climate.

He didn't like Jerusalem and he only came up there at these times to keep down any riots. The Roman government just didn't permit riots and didn't permit protest marches and that type of thing. And that's the reason that they stood for about a 1,000 years as a great world empire. I think that present day nations need to take note. Now, will you notice, he was a politician and expediency rather than Roman justice was the motivating force in this man's life. And he actually sought to release Jesus, frankly, if you'll notice that. But he couldn't get the cooperation of Jesus as he wanted it.

And yet at the same time, of course, he wanted to please the religious rulers and he'd have to have the cooperation of the Lord Jesus. I think pilot is a typical example of a cheap politician who is unloosed from the noble moorings of honesty and integrity and carries water on both shoulders seeking to compromise and the pride to please all sides. And when you do that, you please no one. Now, I'm reading verse two. Pilot asked him, art thou the king of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, thou sayest it. Art you right?

And the chief priest accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. And pilot asked him again saying, answerest thou nothing? Behold how many things they witness against thee. And pilot was amazed and shocked to have a prisoner before him who would not defend himself. I imagine that other prisoners went to great length to defend themselves. But this prisoner was different. He didn't defend himself. And he won't know why. But Jesus yet answered nothing so that pilot marvel. Now, at that feast, he released under them one prisoner whomsoever they desired. Now, when we get to the Gospel of John, you'll find out that there was a great deal of interplay back and forth between pilot and the religious rulers as pilot actually sought to deliver Jesus.

And he took him on the inside. You remember talk to him. Then he came back out and then took him in again, hoping to get his cooperation, but he found out that he had to stand on his own two feet and make a decision relative to Jesus Christ. And that's what every man has to do and every woman for that matter. Now, this man thought he would get off the hook, of course, by releasing a prisoner. And this man just couldn't believe that anyone would ask for Barabbas to be delivered and for Jesus to be crucified.

And he really thought he had a solution to the dilemma that he found himself in. I'm reading now at verse seven and there was one named Barabbas which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. Now, here is a man guilty of murder, guilty of leading an insurrection. And he was the chief prisoner at that time. And he was to be crucified along with the others. I think the Lord Jesus actually was crucified on Barabbas's cross. Now, pilot answered them saying, will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews?

For he knew that the chief priest had delivered him for envy. But the chief priest moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas under them. And pilot answered and said again unto them, what will ye then that I shall do under him whom ye called the king of the Jews? And they cried out again crucified. Now, this is actually a very remarkable and an unheard of thing that's taking place. The thing was evident, I think, to pilot that the charges brought against Jesus were false. And here he had on his hands this prisoner that was an outstanding criminal.

And he makes the comparison between Jesus and Barabbas. And he thought while for certain, these men wouldn't dare ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be crucified. But he just didn't know even religion what depths it can sink. And so he was so shocked that when they did ask for Barabbas to be released of all things, he's the judge and he's so startled that he asked this question here in desperation, what shall I do with Jesus? Let's call Christ and the mob was instructed to demand that Jesus be crucified. And this, my friend, is mob rule with a vengeance.

Listen to this. And they cried out again crucify him. Then pilot said unto them, why? What evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly crucify him. And no mob is prepared the reason or to use its head or to use good judgment. All they could do is just cry out crucify him. Now, as we move down into this section, notice and so pilot, willing to content the people, released Barabbas under them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. Now, pilot obviously was a weak, vacillating politician. And here he yields to the cry of the mob and he delivered the Lord Jesus to be crucified.

Roman justice certainly went awry here. An innocent man is to die. But wait just a moment. He's to take my place and I'm not innocent. And he's to take your place also. Now, we're told here that the soldiers led him away into the hall called the praetorium and they called together the whole band. Now, when any criminal was to be crucified, he was turned over to these soldiers and they were a brutal lot to do with as they pleased. And they, of course, humiliated prisoners. They persecuted them. They tortured them. They made them a play thing for sadistic appetites.

And that is the thing they do with the Lord Jesus. I've suggested before in the Gospel of Matthew, they played a game, a Roman game called hot hand. They'd all stick their fist up in the face of Jesus. Then they'd blindfold him and then they would all hit him but one. And believe me, they hit him. They beat his face into a pulp. I don't think he looked like a man. And of course, when they take the blindfold off, he had to pick out the fist that didn't hit him. And he never could pick out the right one.

No prisoner ever picked out the right one. Even if he did, it wouldn't be the right one cuz they're going to play the game again. And I think they actually beat the Lord Jesus's face into a pulp and probably beat him into practical unconsciousness. And that's the reason we're told here that they had to get this man Simon the Cyrenian to carry his cross. Our Lord was 33 years old. I'm confident he was muscular. He'd walked up and down that country and he'd been a carpenter and he'd been able to drive the money changers out.

And he was muscular, but they had beat him, friends. They had beat him into a pulp. Now, will you notice in verse 24 and when they had crucified him and actually it could be better translated here and after they crucified him because the crucifixion, no gospel writer records the details of it. They just give us incidents around the crucifixion. It was so horrible that the spirit of God as it were drew the veil and said there's nothing here to satisfy a sadistic curiosity. There's nothing here. An idle mind is to occupy itself with and too horrible.

And we're told that after they crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them what every man should take. After they got him on the cross, that was over with. He was hanging there and we're told it was the third hour when they crucified him and they put the superscription above him. I get to John. I'll call attention to that. You have to put all the gospel writers together to get the full superscription. And this is another evidence of the fact that no gospel writers intending to give you the whole story. Now, they crucified.

We're told here verse 27 two thieves, the one on his right hand, the other on his left. And that was done. Mark says that the scripture might be fulfilled which saith, he was numbered with the transgressors. And they that passed by wagging their heads and saying, ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others. Himself he cannot save. Let Christ, the king of Israel, descend now from the cross that we may see and believe.

And they that were crucified with him reviled him. Now, note verse 33 says, and when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And then at the ninth hour, we're told that Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani, which is being interpreted, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, I want you to notice this here because actually Mark gives us the crucifixion by the clock. On the third hour, he was put on the cross. And at the sixth hour, that is at 12:00 darkness came down instead of right at high noon.

Why darkness came down on the cross. Then from the sixth hour to the ninth hour or 3:00 in the afternoon, it was darkness. Now, will you notice this? In the first three hours, it was from 9:00 to 12:00 and from the second three hours, 12:00 to 3:00. He was on the cross six hours. Now, in those first three hours, there was physical light. In the last three hours, there was physical darkness. But in those first three hours, it was spiritual darkness. And in the last three hours, it was spiritual light. Why? Well, because in the first three hours, man did his worst.

You see they crucified him. You see that he's being reviled there even by those that were hanging with him on the cross. In fact, both thieves at first. And then the enemy down beneath marching around wagging their heads and ridiculing him. Everything is man-made in that first three hours. Man is doing his work and man's doing his worst. Now, in the last three hours, in that time of physical darkness, when it was actually spiritual light, God was working. In those first three hours, he's suffering at the hands of man. And in the last three hours, he's suffering for man.

And in those first three hours, he's dying because of sin. In the last three hours, he's dying for the sin of the world. You see, sin was doing all it could to destroy him in the first three hours. In the last three hours, he is making his soul an offering for sin so that you have crucifixion by the clock. And in those last three hours, he is paying for the sins of the world. And it's doing this period that he was made sin for us. He became sin for us. He was forsaken of God. Yet even at that time, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.

What a paradox we have here. And the crowd misunderstood what he said. They probably thought that he said Elijah because of the similarity of the words and they asked, well, let's see whether Elijah will come. And you wonder whether they didn't halfway suspect that he was the Messiah. I think there was something in the human heart that did tell them this was the Messiah. And they give him now wine to quench his thirst. This is not the drug that they gave him later on. We are told in Psalm 69:21, they gave me also gall for my meat and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

They gave him wine to deaden the pain. They gave him this as a drink. And that was the reason that it was given to him. Now, we find him here then crying out during this particular period here. And when he cried out like that, while there were those that stood there, they said he's calling Elijah. And I think they thought he might be the Messiah. And they ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and they gave him to drink saying, let alone. Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.

Now, this final statement and Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost or dismissed his spirit. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And we'll say something about that next time. But that's as far as we can go today. May God richly bless you, my beloved. You know, there's a lot of great wisdom to uncover in our next study of Mark 15 and 16. So hop aboard and join us. Until then, if you'd like to be in touch, just drop us a note in our app, email us at biblebus@ttb.org or call 1-800-65 Bible.

I'm Steve Schwetz and I'll be here saving you a seat on the Bible bus next time.

Steve Schwetz: Well, ride the Bible bus for five years and you'll be amazed at what God teaches you from his word about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It's a blessing that keeps on going. That's what we believe at Through the Bible.